Sam's Adventures Underground
by queroro
Summary: HIATUS. AN: I'm seriously considering a re-write. Currently it is a passable rip-off of the game, cluttered with OCs, and indecisive narration style. OTL
1. Falling Down The Rabbit Hole

It is a fortnight into the summer and a threat of rain is lingering above the Terre verte manor that stood upon the hill overlooking Pleasance Village. Today is supposed to be looked forward to; the daughter of the family who dwells in the manor, Samara Rutledge is celebrating her nineteenth birthday. It is not though, because the decorations (of tapestries and wreaths) are not in place for a party celebrating this occasion, but they were set up for a feast to welcome guests of the family coming from the far north tonight; and it is also known that they are carrying a wedding proposal. Further infuriating the birthday girl is the obvious fact that she is the only girl in the family to propose to.

The second child and only daughter of the prestigious Rutledge family, Samara could be expected to be brought up and spoiled rotten by her family. But this is not the case; for as long as she could remember, Samara has been made to live up to the uncommonly high expectations which her family stored for her. Compared to the rest of her peers, Samara is the most educated and athletic. Even so, she remained the lesser of her siblings in both aspects. In addition, Samara is the least gorgeous of the three siblings. While both her brothers inherited the shiny golden locks and light blue eyes of their parents, Samara is a thin, pale-skinned girl with eyes the same black colour as her hair, and the most peculiar expression of passiveness upon her small face.

Hearing the appalling news as early as waking up (well into the afternoon) has no doubt plunged Samara into a most foul mood, because she didn't even bother to have breakfast (or brunch, if one may) and has gone into the verdant lawn between the manor and the fencing behind it. Beyond is a forest into which none ever dared enter. No sooner than this thought crosses her mind though, Samara has stepped over the fencing and into the forbidden forest. Mind, Samara is not being stupid, doing this; as soon as she walked out the back door, she tripped on the steps and fell flat onto the moist grass. She then looked up ahead to catch a smudgy shape of reddish-black just behind the fencing, and so tore after it upon realising that there is no such thing as a Red Rabbit.

It has started to rain, and Samara is already aware of her being lost in the middle of the forest. However, she is not yet ready to turn back and start finding her way home to get married, not now when she is sure that the Red Rabbit has been beckoning her to follow at each turn. The rabbit runs very fast, and only stopping to turn around back towards its pursuer, standing on its hind legs like so for a couple of seconds before turning around and disappears behind one after another tree. It is now at its twenty-second left turn, looking somewhat impatient with the low speed at which Samara chases after it. Of course, Samara is trying her best to catch up.

A little relieved to see that the rabbit has come to a definite stop, she starts running faster towards it. To her surprise, she now finds that she has been trailing behind it from a farther distance than she thought. She could presently see that it stands almost four feet tall on its hind legs. Just as she decides to slow down, she suddenly stepped onto something very brittle, which almost immediately crumbles away and opens into a seemingly endless hole. Samara takes a moment to realise that she is falling down into it; the Red Rabbit has jumped after her and apparently _falls down_ faster than her too.

The fall is a long one, and considerably slow; even the clueless Samara has time to ponder and daydream before it ends. "I know this story! I'm Alice in Wonderland! And I'm falling down the rabbit hole!" said she aloud, just as Alice did when Samara was reading her story and apparently forgetting the fact that there was no Red Rabbit in the story and her name is not Alice. She looks around and tries to remember the story. Alas, this hole is not lined with shelves of glass jars and books. Instead, this hole looks everything an underground tunnel should; walls of dirt and tree roots. However, a quarter of an hour later, it is wondrous that there is even any light in it.

Samara tries to look down at the bottom but forgets to as soon as she sees the Red Rabbit _swimming_ back up to her. It stopped as it has levelled with her. "Hullo," she greeted the rabbit good-naturedly, but the blank look on her face is one she can never be rid of. _"Odd. The White Rabbit spoke, this one should too,"_ thought her, as the rabbit seem to furrow its eyebrows in confusion. As suddenly as the rabbit's opal eyes blinked, Samara feels something grabbing her ankles – thick, strong vines with wicked sharp thorns all over it – and immediately, painfully, she is pulled down swiftly down the hole. It is getting darker and darker, and finally pitch-black, yet she is pulled down even faster still.

The vines seem to clutch at her ankles even tighter, digging their thorns into what little flesh there is. Samara feels that they are trying to eat her; the thorns serve as teeth. _"Like those carnivorous plants. Maybe these vines belong to one really big pitcher plant that could swallow me whole,"_ thought her, still looking somewhat indifferent. Now she sees that the Red Rabbit falls at the same speed as she is being dragged down. "This is your doing, is it?" accused her, "let go! Rabbit, tell them off!" and Samara struggles to free herself despite the agony as the vines tightened their grips. "ACK! Oh, bother," and she gives up when they had ripped off her shoes.

Five minutes later, she slows down; the Red Rabbit doing the opposite. As the vines released her ankles, she abruptly stops falling and stands a foot or so above ground. She winced as her feet touches the ground, owing more to the pain than the cold. It was still dark but when she squints her eyes, they adjusted to the darkness so remarkably that she now sees as clearly as she would under clear skies. She looks up and notices her shoes falling down after her at a snail's pace. She was going to wait when a curiously familiar voice startled her.

"Alice," calls the voice.

_**Author's Note**_

_My first fic; please read and review! And please be nice. Though, I _have_ decided to write the rest of the story in past tense. I see how I suck at this._


	2. Village of The Doomed

"Alice," called the voice; a deep, rumbling voice that sounded as if the walls have spoken.

Samara looked around to see which side of the walls spoke but found nothing of the sort. She was standing in a cavernous earthy chamber and above her was the Rabbit Hole through which she fell. She decided to ignore the voice and looked up again at her shoes. It was frustratingly slow. And then another voice spoke.

"Please don't dawdle, Alice. We're very late indeed," it spoke in an almost-whisper. Her eyes trailed it, and she saw the Red Rabbit disappear into another corner ahead of her.

Samara decided to venture on barefooted. The narrow passage before her looked like an underground mine. She had nowhere else to go after all. But just as she reached the start of the tunnel, something yellowish and jagged appeared to her right. She saw that it was a grin.

A pair of eyes followed the grin and next second, a cat was perched on the rock at the side of the tunnel entrance. Creshire Cat now sat almost as tall as her, with yellow teeth and eyes that glow in the dark. He looked bony; indeed some of his taupe grey flesh seemed to have been bitten off the bone here and there. He had tribal tattoo instead of stripes all over his body and a thin silver earring on his good ear (the other one was half torn off). Even the grin he wears now seemed malicious and sadistic. Last but not least, Samara soon found out that the deep voice was his.

"You've become quite mangy, Cat, but your grin's a comfort." It was the first thing she thought and she couldn't help herself.

"And you've picked up a bit of an attitude. Still curious and willing to learn, I hope," replied the Cat.

"Wonderland has become quite strange. How is one to find her way?" Samara surprised herself in saying this instead of asking why the Cat spoke to her as if they've met before. Granted, Wonderland has indeed change since Samara last read about it. As if complementary to the Rabbit Hole (but of course), one couldn't shake off the scary feeling of being trapped underground and its very air was dark and sinister.

"As knowing where you're going is preferable to being lost, ask. Rabbit knows a thing or two, and I myself don't need a weathervane to know where the wind blows. Let your need be your guidance, suppress your instinct to lead; pursue Rabbit." With the last word, he vanished after his lingering grin.

Samara followed through the tunnel. It was narrow and suffocating, but the torches lighting up her way were a relief to the fact that she still could not see the rabbit. After what felt like forever, she reached the end of the passage.

She has entered a village with the most unwelcoming atmosphere. There were bigger tree roots in the walls of the huge cave in which this village was set, and every building and the narrow bridges that interconnect them were evidently made of these roots. The inhabitants of this village were gnomes and Samara now saw that they were all moving about carrying huge crystal balls tied to their backs. They walked slowly and unsteadily and looked very solemn.

She peered over the edge where she stood and couldn't quite make out what she saw below; whether it was water or molten glass for it looked somewhat solid and yet it flows. Samara had to shrug off the debate because she finally caught sight of the reddish-black smudge again.

The Red Rabbit was only on the other end of the bridge where she now stood. Samara tore after it again but as soon as she reached the Rabbit, it turned around once more and disappeared into a doorway in the wall of the cave. To her displease, the doorway shrunk a considerable size as Samara approached it; now it stood a mere inch tall. She has reached a dead end.

"_Ask,_" said Creshire Cat's voice in her head.

She went up to the nearest gnome (it looked like it has aged too much in too short a time) and was going to ask it 'Where does that door lead to?' when the gnome unexpectedly confide in her of its suffering.

"Our land is destroyed, our spirits crushed. Slavery and happiness do not dwell in the same house," said it, before turning its back to her and staggered off, still carrying the crystal ball thrice its size on its back.

Irritated with the unhelpful behaviour, Samara decided to walk away from the gnome and instead ask the next one she encounters.

Moving on, she soon arrived where the bridge she was crossing comes to abrupt end. It appeared that the few steps ahead has collapsed, leaving a huge jump between where she stood and the rest of the crossing, one that she knew she could not manage.

As though heeding to her summoning him, Creshire Cat reappeared on her right and said "When the path becomes problematical, consider a leap of faith. Ride the wind." And he vanished again.

The meaning of his words was revealed when she held out her hand. Steam was blowing up from below, strong enough to hold her in the air. Having nowhere else to go but forward, Samara leapt and rode the wind.

Indeed, she found it easy to do so since her skirt puffed up to allow her balance, but steam is really the product of boiling water; it was hot and she suffered every ounce of pain as she rode it. It was lucky enough that she didn't succumb to the pain before she arrived at the other side of the bridge.

As her wounded, steamed feet touched the cold, wooden surface of the bridge she began howling in pain and her next thought was "_I should get myself shoes._" To her relief, she saw the sign 'Cobbler' at the end of the crossing, even when she did not mean to mend any shoe for she had none.

The sign was hung onto a door. Samara proceeded to push it open and step inside.

The room was, of course, gnome-sized, its walls lined with shelves of worn-out shoes, random boxes and (oddly enough) porcelain dolls, a single light source hung in the middle gave off poor lighting but it generally felt more welcoming than the outside. A lone gnome that sat at its working station in a corner turned around to meet her indifferent expression. This one didn't have its crystal ball tied onto its back (it laid beside the desk) but it looked as solemn as the rest.

"You're not from here," it said.

"No," she replied. "I want to buy a pair of shoes," and her eyes fell upon one that stood on top of the shortest shelf; tall black boots that would reach up to her knees, and evidently the only pair that would fit her.

"Rabbit told us that a champion would come. Are you that champion?" it enquired.

"I dunno," she answered, and proceeded to point at the pair of boots, "are you selling these?"

The gnome didn't seem to have heard her and ploughed on "because if you are, I'd be most glad to help you with anything."

Samara took the boots off the shelf. "Alright, I am then. I will take these." It was a statement, not a request. She found toffees in her pocket and gave some of them to the gnome. It accepted them most heartily. She sat down on a chair and put on the boots; it was a perfect fit.

Now that her immediate urgency is taken care of, she moved on to her previous case: Follow the Red Rabbit. Why?

"How am I supposed to save you people again?" was all she could ask.

The gnome dragged his stool from the desk and took a seat opposite to her. She still looked indifferent, but Samara really wanted to hear the whole story.

"Some time after you left, the Red Queen and White Queen broke into a quarrel. It soon turned into a fight, and then it was war. The White Queen wished to end the war, but the Red Queen is determined to end her adversary. She's inhuman, really, since they're sisters."

"Half the country already hers, she moved on to take over the rest of the land. Under her reign, we are forced into slavery. She's building something, a weapon, we don't really know. But we have to suffer for her to achieve her goal. Only death could release us from this misery. Or _her_ death."

Samara was again puzzled by how people seem to think that this was her second visit to Wonderland. Then she remembered the Red Rabbit. "I'm supposed to follow the Rabbit, but he's gone through a door and I need to get this small," and she indicated an inch with her thumb and forefinger.

"The Fortress of Doors holds such secrets. But it will take more than a wish to get there."

"Can you get me into the Fortress of Doors?" she requested now.

"Wouldn't dare. Since the upheaval we've all become gutless half-wits. But, make your way to the mines, the deepest pit. There's one there who is wiser and braver than any of us. He still lives free."

The gnome then stood up, walked over to its crystal ball and began rolling it across the room and out the door. He heaved it unto his back and left Samara confused with his behaviour.

She then followed suit, understanding now that her being here was to kill the powerful Red Queen. Unarmed and outnumbered, one can hardly blame her for wanting to back out and then wishing that is was just a dream, and now she does believe that she could succeed because it really was her dream, in which case she would be capable of bending it to her will.

Creshire Cat appeared beside her again. "Meta-essence is the life force in Wonderland. Those of your enemies are especially potent. Use it wisely." He indicated a ruby that was floating in front of her and disappeared.

At her touch, the ruby vanished. Samara blinked, not understanding what it was all about. But when she took her next step, she realised that all the pain in her legs was gone. Apparently the floating ruby acts as ointment to any physical pain she was in. With that, Samara was reassured.

She encountered more dejected gnomes as she made her way through the Village, and she soon wondered if there was any real danger in her quest. Just as she reached the mines however, she found out that there was.

A sentry posted at the entrance to the mines charged at her on sight. Despite that it was an Eight of Clubs card with a head and the appropriate limbs, Samara just knew that it could really hurt her. It strike at her with its spear before she could turn the other way, slashing her and inflicting pain very unlike a dream. Slightly horrified at realising that she could not wake up, Samara ran as fast as she could, hoping the sentry would rather remain to stand guard at its post. But when she began to slow down, she received another blow of the cutting spear.

She screamed, there was no denying the pain. She ran again and the sentry still chase after her, swinging the spear ruthlessly. A stitch started to form in her chest, but she felt that her life depended on her running as fast as she could for as long as she could. And then the worse came.

She ran into something hard. It was the wall of the cave. She has reached another dead end, and this time there was no wind to ride. Behind her, the Red Queen's soldier looked more threatening than ever.

She turned her back to the wall and began scanning the area for any form of escape. There was none, but to her immediate right where the Cat usually materialises out of thin air, something was doing the same.

It took her a fraction of a second to recognise it as a knife, and she began swinging her arms aimlessly as soon as she grabbed it.

The guard was stabbing her repeatedly, missing sometimes as she accidentally deflected it with her knife. She was bleeding all over, the pain was very real. Then she closed her eyes and forced herself onto the guard. With one last slash, the guard was cut across the middle into halves, blood squirting out like the jet of fountain in the back garden of her manor.

She watched it fell and turned into a ruby bigger than the last one she saw. Again, all the pain simply diffused out of her as she touched the meta-essence.

"_Those of your enemies are especially potent,_" Creshire Cat does not lie.

She looked down at her hand in which she held the weapon. The Vorpal Blade was made of something stronger than silver. Now all memory of the fountain and the back lawn and the manor seemed a lifetime ago.

_**Author's Note**_

_I'm sorry for the slow update. And apparently I changed the writing style. I think I might do so again in the next chapter, just for the fun of it. Or not. Haha._

_Yes, a lot of it is American McGee's Alice. I intend to use his setting, this is an Alice in Wonderland fanfic after all, might as well put everything in it._

_American McGee's Alice is where Cheshire Cat becomes Creshire Cat. But no, this fanfic isn't going to be a sort of walk-through for the game.._

_Thank you for reading, please leave a review^^_


	3. Dementia

Samara didn't realise that the Creshire Cat has reappeared to her again until he spoke, in that deep, rumbling voice of his, "your knife is necessary but not sufficient. Always collect what's useful. Reject only your ignorance and you may survive,"

"Wait!" Samara yelled, not sparing one second lest he should vanish again.

The Cat remained, his malicious grin as wide as ever.

"I was wondering, where do you go when you disappear?"

Samara could swear that the Cat had sighed through gritted teeth at her question, but then changed her mind seeing that this was impossible to do, even for the Creshire Cat.

But the Cat and his grin remained. He nodded once, swished his tail as he got onto his paws and turned around.

He began leading the way to the mines. Tightening her grip on the Vorpal Blade, Samara then followed close, not bothered by her unanswered question.

Naturally, the mines were dimmer and relatively more closed compared to the underground Village. Samara just couldn't figure out what kind of mineral that was dug out of there; it was all earth and tree roots again. The passage was less narrow than the mine she came through earlier, and they reached a point where it diverges into two every now and then. Even so, with the Cat leading her way, Samara was confident in not getting lost.

After about half an hour of walking through the twisty and branched passage, the Cat finally came to a halt. He turned to face her, swished his tail and sat down. Samara looked around, allocating a full minute to take in her surroundings.

She now stood on what appeared to be a narrow railway track, and there was a rusty cart blocking their way. Creshire Cat indicated this cart with one front paw and once more disappeared before his lingering grin. Samara took it to mean that she should jump into the cart, and she did.

As if it had been condemned to years of solitude, waiting in eager for someone to board it, the cart started moving forwards of its own accord before Samara could properly settle herself in it. Following half an hour of silent journeying with the Cat, this sudden motion and creaking sound almost made her jump.

She reached the first turn. It appeared to be getting brighter. Samara soon found out why.

The turning opened into another underground air pocket, as huge as the previous one in which the Village was set, but the flowing matter at its bottom was more of a vast lake rather than a network of streams like that of the Village's. There was no steam jetting out from the bottom and the unknown matter glowed and seemed alive. Indeed, the flowing matter at the base of this cave is of the very same kind as those contained in the crystal balls that the gnomes of the Village were carrying on their backs.

"That must be what they're digging for here," she said to no one in particular. She could not confirm this though, because there seemed to be no mining activity going on at the time.

The tracks remained narrow and twisty, and the journey silent, save for the creaking of her rusty cart. She saw no other sign of life for a good one hour.

The cart stopped when it reached the other end of the cave and she vacated it. Before her stood an opening into yet another passage. The prospect of this being an endless journey hit her, and she silently prayed that the Cat had led her through the shortest, not the safest, route. She wouldn't mind facing more cardboard guards if it meant reaching her destination faster.

Something pulled her out of her frame of thoughts; floating to her right as the Vorpal Blade had done before she grabbed it, was a book with a red diamond shape on its white cover. She reached out for it and the book replaced the dagger in her hand. Upon closer examination, she found that it was not a book at all. It was a Deck of Cards; all four sets bind together neatly by something invisible.

She then began to wonder how the Deck of Cards was going to help her fight against anything; the Vorpal Blade was an obvious case.

Suddenly there was a searing pain on her left shoulder. She now realise that she had been absently walking through the passage, and has reached the next pit. Samara didn't have the time to worry about having taken a wrong turn along the way; the pain she felt had come from the card guarding a doorway at the other side of the cave. It was a seven of diamonds this time, its sceptre shooting out red diamond-shaped cards at her, slashing her brutally.

Focusing on saving herself, she held out her Deck of Cards and mentally commanded it to attack. It obeyed.

Cards shoot out of the Deck at incredible rate, and Samara noticed some of them went flying towards a different direction. A yelp of pain told her that there were two of the guards, the other one had been obscured from view, and was now laying dead. Oh yes, she was loving the Deck of Cards.

The guard soon fell defeated, left in its place was its life force in the familiar form of a luminous ruby. Seeing this, all the pain came back to her and Samara began limping towards the now unguarded doorway. Before she reached it, the ruby disappeared.

Samara groaned in painful frustration. "Of course! Why should the thing stick around?"

She now desperately wished for another encounter with card guards.

But alas, she had to continue forward despite her agony. She had cuts in her shoulders, arms and right thigh. Limping through the doorway and into the next tunnel, Samara said to herself, "how deep is deepest pit anyway?" and mentally added, "and how do I find this guy when I get there? I don't think he'll have put up signboards directing towards where he lives." She amused herself with a picture of a road sign at the end of this passage, written on it the words 'The Last Free Gnome' in defiance to the Red Queen.

Not long afterwards, she entered into the next pit. This one was similar to the Village for a change. There was no signboard of any kind, and her path diverged into three. She cursed loudly.

Straight ahead, the path twisted and turned until the other side of the pit. The path to her right went higher and higher towards the right side of the cave, leading into a dark tunnel above. Then she caught sight of the Cat sitting in the middle of the left turn. "Every adventure requires a first step. Trite but true, even here," with a nod, he vanished again.

Samara decided to take the left turn. Halfway across it, she had to ride the hot air again. This doubling of her physical suffering made her determined to kill off any being that dares to even cross her path. Evidently, Samara felt homicidal. Perhaps she would like her Vorpal Blade back now so she could actually inflict pain before consuming her adversary's life force. At this thought, she smiled for the first time since she fell through the Rabbit Hole.

Something red and aglow was sent her way. She looked up to see her next victim. The seven of diamonds was shooting red cards at her still but she ran towards it and dodged them with newfound agility. She didn't remember when had the Vorpal Blade replaced the Deck of Cards in her hand, but the next thing she knew was all her cuts were healed and the pain gone. The guard was no more and she missed no time in grabbing its meta-essence. Samara felt victorious.

Creshire Cat had reappeared beside her. Samara thought he looked grudgingly proud. "How am I to find this guy? I've got some fancy toys now, I could try breaking into the Fortress of Doors and save time," she said to the Cat.

"Doors have locks, locks need keys which you don't have. Let's hope the doors are open," he said.

"And if not, there may be more than one way to skin a cat," said she before hastily adding, "if you'll pardon the expression."

"Most unpleasant metaphor. Please avoid it in the future," he replied, his grin wide still. He swished his tail and got on his paws, leading the way again.

The walk was very short this time, they soon reached their destination. It was a small house not unlike the cobbler's. Creshire Cat walked up to the door, turned to face her and nodded, then he was gone again.

The door opened, and a gnome stepped out to meet her. He looked cleaner and healthier than the ones she saw earlier.

"Why do you pursue me to this deserted place?" apparently he was not surprised that she now stood in front of his door. Well, there can't be that many free gnomes around.

"to benefit from your wisdom," she answered. "I need to get into the Fortress of Doors so I could get this small," and again, she indicated about half an inch with a thumb and a forefinger.

_**Author's Note**_

_This chapter is not quite finished, I'll get back to it later. I just needed to update the story in case I lose the chance.. Thank you for reading!^^ Leave a review if you please :D_


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